The Many Faces of Wisdom: An Investigation of Cultural-Historical Wisdom Exemplars Reveals Practical, Philosophical, and Benevolent Prototypes

Designing Robots for Aging: Wisdom as a Critical Lens

Although the concept of wisdom is ancient, empirical research on it has only recently received attention in gerontology. This coincides with a critical turn away from a deficit model of aging, viewing aging as a series of losses, toward a more supportive and developmental model. This paper draws on this recent work to consider how wisdom can be a critical lens for HRI researchers and other technology design researchers to pay more attention to the coping strategies that older adults accumulated throughout their lives. We engaged in a six-month collaborative design process with community-dwelling older adults. The contributions of this paper are twofold. First, we found that wisdom as a design concept helps researchers to critically examine how they define knowledge. Wisdom as an accumulation of experiential knowledge of older adults helps researchers rethink the definition of knowledge—valuing computational and technological knowledge—in the field of HRI. Second, wisdom leads researchers to the past experiences of older adults. Although past experiences are as important as current experiences, they are not actively considered in robot design studies for older adults. We hope wisdom as a critical lens could allow researchers to integrate the invisible aspects of older adults’ aging experiences into the existing practices of designing robots for aging users.

The Wisdom Researchers and the Elephant: An Integrative Model of Wise Behavior

This article proposes an integrative model of wise behavior in real life. While current research findings depend considerably on how wisdom is conceptualized and measured, there are strong conceptual commonalities across psychological wisdom models. The proposed model integrates the components of several existing models into a dynamic framework explaining wise behavior. The article first specifies which real-life situations require wisdom and discusses characteristics of wise behavior. The core proposition of the model is that in challenging real-life situations, noncognitive wisdom components (an exploratory orientation, concern for others, and emotion regulation) moderate the effect of cognitive components (knowledge, metacognitive capacities, and self-reflection) on wise behavior. The model can explain the situation specificity of wisdom and the commonalities and differences between personal and general wisdom. Empirically, it accounts for the considerable variation in correlations among wisdom measures and between wisdom measures and other variables. The model has implications for the design of wisdom-fostering interventions and new wisdom measures.

Wisdom: Meaning, structure, types, arguments, and future concerns

Narrowing the debate about the meaning of wisdom requires two different understandings of wisdom. (a) As action or behaviour, wisdom refers to well-motivated actors achieving an altruistic outcome by creatively and successfully solving problems. (b) As a psychological trait, wisdom refers to a global psychological quality that engages intellectual ability, prior knowledge and experience in a way that integrates virtue and wit, and is acquired through life experience and continued practice. Thus, we propose a two-dimensional theory of wisdom that integrates virtue and wit. Wisdom can be further divided into "humane wisdom" and "natural wisdom" according to the types of capability required. At the same time, we propose that wisdom classification should integrate the views of Sternberg and Wang and be divided into three types: domain-specific wisdom, domain-general wisdom, and omniscient/ overall wisdom. We then discuss three pressing questions about wisdom, and consider five issues important to the future of wisdom research in psychology.

Manifestations of wisdom in ancient China: An analysis of the Zhinang Quanji

This study aims to use summarizing content analysis and descriptive analysis to examine features related to wisdom in Zhinang Quanji, a collection of classical Chinese wisdom stories by 17th-century writer Feng Menglong, so as to investigate the real-life manifestations of wisdom of ancient Chinese. The results are as follows: (1) the wisdom of ancient Chinese is mainly manifested in 20 different kinds of events. Among these, the following are the five instances of wisdom that appear most frequently: (a) act resourcefully and calmly as the situation demands to deal with emergencies; (b) assist those in a higher position (especially through admonishment or remonstration); (c) take note of even the finest detail and wisely settle disputes; (d) when in bureaucratic circles, clearly analyze the situation and plan far ahead; and (e) on the battlefield, ascertain the mentality of the enemy force, take them by surprise, and overcome them. (2) A total of 932 wise characters are included in Zhinang Quanji. Here, several characteristics are commonly found, including dominant maleness, numerical minority of persons aged under 18 and above 60, and predominance of characters who possess human wisdom. The current findings can provide a useful framework for understanding the manifestation of wisdom in concrete life contexts, thus helping us to better understand and grasp the meaning and nature of wisdom.

Relationship between self-assessed health and life satisfaction in older adults: the moderating role of ego-resiliency

The present study was focused on the relationship between the subjective assessment of physical health and satisfaction with life (SWL) in older adults. The relationship itself was found in previous studies, but we postulated that it is moderated by ego-resiliency (ER). To verify this hypothesis, 124 Polish participants aged between 60 and 89 (mean = 71.72, standard deviation = 7.08) were asked to complete questionnaire measures of: self-assessed health (SAH; measured with seven items from the World Health Organization Quality of Life WHOQOL-BREF assessment), SWL (measured with the Satisfaction with Life Scale) and ER (measured with the Ego-Resiliency Scale ER89). The results confirmed the moderating role of ER by showing that the relationship between SAH and SWL was statistically significant only when ER was high or moderate, while there was no relationship for participants with low ER. To interpret these results, we postulate that ego-resilient older adults are more accurate in the assessment of health, i.e. their SAH reflects the objective condition more closely, which strengthens the relationship between SAH and wellbeing. ER is thus conceived as an important psychological resource that promotes the accuracy of SAH and, consequently, makes it a more robust predictor of SWL. We hypothesise that this is based on the positive relationship between ER and wisdom in older adults.

Gender Effect on Views of Wisdom and Wisdom Levels

Gender differences in wisdom are an important theme in mythology, philosophy, psychology, and daily life. Based on the existing psychological research, consensus and dispute exist between the two genders on the views of wisdom and in the levels of wisdom. In terms of the views of wisdom, the way men and women view wisdom is highly similar, and from the perspectives of both ordinary people and professional researchers of wisdom psychology, wise men and women are extremely similar. Regarding wisdom level, research has revealed that, although significant gender effects exist in the level of overall wisdom, reflective and affective dimension, and interpersonal conflict coping styles, the effect sizes were small, which indicated that these gender differences were not obvious. It would be desirable for future research to combine multiple wisdom measurements, strengthen research on the psychological gender effect of wisdom, and focus on the moderating role of age on the relationship between wisdom and gender.

What Is Wisdom? A Unified 6P Framework

In this article, we propose a “6P” unified framework for understanding wisdom and accounts of wisdom: purpose, press, problems, persons, processes, products. We discuss wisdom in terms of these 6Ps, which expand and elaborate upon 4Ps originally suggested for models of creativity. We open the article with a discussion of the importance of wisdom. Then, we consider some past accounts of wisdom. We begin by considering explicit models of wisdom and then implicit models (folk theories) of wisdom, first Western and then non-Western. Next, we elaborate upon the 6P framework. We then consider how existing models differ from one another in terms of the 6P framework. Then, we discuss how the 6P framework elucidates the development of wisdom. Finally, we draw conclusions, in particular, that a complete model of wisdom ultimately would need to specify all of the 6Ps, but it is not clear that any current models do so.

The comparison of the wisdom view in Chinese and Western cultures

Wisdom views in different cultural contexts are closely connected with the corresponding culture's worldview. Some results are found by comparing the wisdom concepts in Chinese and Western cultures: Firstly, the early wisdom concepts, both in China and the West, contain the elements of intelligence and virtue. Whereas, from the Enlightenment to the Piagetian school, the western concept of wisdom has then shifted to the role of cognition and knowledge; By contrast, the traditional Chinese wisdom concept has been treating wisdom as a virtue. Modern Chinese and western wisdom psychologists are inclined to accept the wisdom meta-theory of "integration of intelligence and virtue". Secondly, both Chinese and the Western philosophy advocate using wisdom to solve real-life problems. Western thinkers focus on practical problems in the material world, i.e. reconciling conflicts between people and the world through understanding and changing the environment. However, Chinese philosophers focus on internal spiritual problems, i.e. improving the individual realm to solve the contradictions inside oneself. Thirdly, both China and the West highlight the comprehensive application of multiple thinking modes. While comparing with the west, which is excelled in using logical and analytical thinking modes and utilizing rational cognition, China is far better at using dialectical and holistic thinking modes and applying intuitive comprehension.

Cross-Temporal Exploration of the Relationship Between Wisdom-Related Cognitive Broadening and Subjective Well-Being: Evidence From a Cross-Validated National Longitudinal Study

How do intraindividual changes in wisdom-related characteristics of cognitive broadening—open-minded reflection on challenging situations, consideration of change, and epistemic humility—relate to subjective well-being over time? To test this relationship, we performed cross-lagged panel analyses from three waves of the national U.S. sample taken across 20 years, utilizing a cross-validation approach: (i) conduct exploratory analyses on a random subset of data, (ii) preregister hypotheses and methods, and (iii) cross-validate preregistered hypotheses on the other random subset of the data. We found that broadening attitudes predicted greater affect balance and life satisfaction in later years, but not vice-versa. The effect was robust when controlling for trait-level broadening well-being associations, as well as sociodemographic characteristics, openness, and general cognitive abilities. The direction of the positive longitudinal relationship between broadening attitudes and subjective well-being has implications for major existing theories of adult development and subjective well-being.

Wisdom Once Gained Is Not Easily Lost: Implicit Theories About Wisdom and Age-Related Cognitive Declines

Background and Objectives

Most people agree that cognitive capabilities are an integral component of wisdom and its development. However, a question that has received less attention is whether people view maintaining cognitive capabilities as a necessary prerequisite for maintaining wisdom.

Research Design and Methods

This study used a mixed-methods approach to evaluate people's views about the relationship between age-related cognitive declines, Alzheimer's disease (AD), and wisdom. Our final sample of 1,519 adults ranged in age from 18 to 86.

Results

The majority of participants stated that wisdom could be present even in people with significant age-related cognitive declines or with AD. In the qualitative responses, common justifications for this were (a) that even people with severe AD can still exhibit wise behaviors during lucid moments, (b) that wisdom is an immutable characteristic that is impossible to lose, and (c) that wisdom maintenance and cognitive capability maintenance are separate constructs.

Discussion and Implications

Although prior research has examined implicit theories about the role of cognition in the development of wisdom, this is the first study to examine implicit theories about whether cognitive declines lead to wisdom declines. The results suggest that most people hold essentialist beliefs about wisdom, viewing it as a fixed and unchangeable trait rather than as a malleable skill.

Wisdom and value orientations: Just a projection of our own beliefs?

Objectives

This paper investigated which value orientations (1) people associate with wisdom and (2) are actually correlated with measures of wisdom. Conceptions of wisdom suggest benevolence and universalism as likely candidates.

Method

In Study 1, 160 university students reported their political orientation and completed a value survey for themselves and a very wise person; Study 2 used the same approach with a more diverse sample (N = 187). In Study 3, 170 participants completed a value survey and six measures of wisdom. In Study 4, 356 participants completed a wisdom measure and filled out a value survey for themselves and a very wise person.

Results

People consistently believed that wise individuals value benevolence, universalism, and self‐direction most; they also imagined wise individuals to be more universalistic but also more respectful of tradition than themselves. Several wisdom measures were uncorrelated with values; the positive correlations that were found were with benevolence, universalism, self‐direction, and respect for traditions.

Conclusions

Most people believe that wise individuals are concerned about the well‐being of others, have respect for cultural, religious, and individual differences and traditions, and care deeply about self‐direction, fairness, and equality as fundamentals of human society. Whether these relationships are also found empirically depends on which measure of wisdom is used.

More on the MORE Life Experience Model: What We Have Learned (So Far)

We have all had difficult times and challenges in our lives, and most of us feel that we learned something from those experiences. At the same time, few people actually become wise in the course of their lives - while most of us become (or remain) well-adapted and happy, generally satisfied, or even bitter or depressed. Why is it that some people, but not others, grow wise over time by learning from life's challenges (Linley & Joseph, 2004)? In the MORE Life Experience Model (Glück & Bluck, 2013), we argued that life challenges are catalysts for the development of wisdom, and that psychological resources crucially influence how people appraise life challenges, how they deal with them, and how they integrate them into their life story as time goes on. Based on the literature on wisdom and growth from challenging experiences, we proposed five resources as important for the development of wisdom: Mastery, Openness, Reflectivity, and Emotion Regulation including Empathy - in short, MORE. Since proposing the model, we have conducted a first empirical test of its predictions. This paper describes our expected and unexpected findings, which provide insights that we integrate to further refine and elaborate the MORE Life Experience Model. First, we describe the theoretical and empirical background of the original model.

Exploring the Relationships between Posttraumatic Growth, Wisdom, and Quality of Life in Older Cancer Survivors

Objective:

The number of older cancer survivors is steadily rising with a growing aging population, and a great interest in evaluating the quality of life is emerged. Although understanding how to improve the quality of life in older cancer survivors is critical as the number of older survivors continues to grow in communities, little is known about empirical evidence regarding predictors of the quality of life in older cancer survivors. This study aimed to examine relationships between posttraumatic growth, wisdom, and quality of life in older cancer survivors.

Methods:

A convenience sample of older cancer survivors after completing cancer treatments (n=121) participated from one public health center, and they filled out self-report questionnaires on measures of posttraumatic growth, wisdom, and quality of life.

Results:

As results of multiple regression analysis, the most significant factor on each domain of the quality of life has shown that higher levels of subjective economic status were associated with significant improvement of four domains of quality of life, and wisdom and posttraumatic growth were associated with significant improvement in social/family well-being.

Conclusion:

This study highlights predictors of each domain of quality of life that subjective economic status, posttraumatic growth and wisdom significantly affected the quality of life in older cancer survivors. Findings indicate that psychological interventions need to be developed and implemented for older cancer survivors to prevent long-term effects of cancer and to increase their quality of life. For improving their quality of life, primary care providers or community health professionals need to develop tailored interventions, such as home-based cancer survivorship programs.

Mainland Chinese Implicit Theory of Wisdom: Generational and Cultural Differences

Objectives

This is the first study on the Mainland Chinese implicit theory of wisdom. To understand the role of culture and social changes in the implicit theory of wisdom, cultural and generational differences were explored.

Method

Two generations of Mainland Chinese, 50 older adults (age 60-80 years) and 50 younger adults (age 20-30 years), were interviewed individually. Participants first nominated personal acquaintances and historical figures as wisdom exemplars and then gave their own definition of wisdom.

Results

Compared with the older generation, the younger generation nominated both acquaintance scholars and historical scholars more frequently, but acquaintance classmates & colleagues and historical leaders less frequently. Common themes of all participants' definition of wisdom partially resembled those of Western studies, yet with components that related to Chinese traditions: "Spirituality of disengagement" and "Positive mindset." Moreover, older generation emphasized "Cognitive engagement" more, but "Positive mindset" and "Spirituality of disengagement" less, than the younger generation.

Discussion

Wisdom aspects of cognitive, practical, and social engagement may be more universal and intergenerational, whereas wisdom aspects of "spirituality" and "mindset" may be more culturally specific and sensitive to social change.

The Strengths of Wisdom Provide Unique Contributions to Improved Leadership, Sustainability, Inequality, Gross National Happiness, and Civic Discourse in the Face of Contemporary World Problems

We present evidence for the strengths of the intellectual virtues that philosophers and behavioral scientists characterize as key cognitive elements of wisdom. Wisdom has been of centuries-long interest for philosophical scholarship, but relative to intelligence largely neglected in public discourse on educational science, public policy, and societal well-being. Wise reasoning characteristics include intellectual humility, recognition of uncertainty, consideration of diverse viewpoints, and an attempt to integrate these viewpoints. Emerging scholarship on these features of wisdom suggest that they uniquely contribute to societal well-being, improve leadership, shed light on societal inequality, promote cooperation in Public Goods Games and reduce political polarization and intergroup-hostility. We review empirical evidence about macro-cultural, ecological, situational, and person-level processes facilitating and inhibiting wisdom in daily life. Based on this evidence, we speculate about ways to foster wisdom in education, organizations, and institutions.

Wisdom and How to Cultivate It

Abstract. Some folk beliefs characterize wisdom as an essence – a set of immutable characteristics, developing as a consequence of an innate potential and extraordinary life experiences. Emerging empirical scholarship involving experiments, diary, and cross-cultural studies contradicts such folk beliefs. Characteristics of wise thinking, which include intellectual humility, recognition of uncertainty and change, consideration of different perspectives, and integration of these perspectives, is highly variable across situations. Cumulatively, empirical research suggests that variability in wise thinking is systematic, with greater wisdom in ecological and experimentally-induced contexts promoting an ego-decentered (vs. egocentric) viewpoint. Moreover, teaching for wisdom benefits from appreciation of context-dependency of intentions and actions depicted in the narratives of wisdom exemplars’ lives. I conclude by advancing a constructivist model of wisdom, suggesting that cultural-historical, personal-motivational, and situational contexts play a critical role for wisdom, its development, and its application in daily life.

Thin-Slice Measurement of Wisdom

Objective Measurement of Wisdom within a short period of time is vital for both the public interest (e.g., understanding a presidential election) and research (e.g., testing factors that facilitate wisdom development). A measurement of emotion associated with wisdom would be especially informative; therefore, a novel Thin-Slice measurement of wisdom was developed based on the Berlin Paradigm. For about 2 min, participants imagined the lens of a camera as the eyes of their friend/teacher whom they advised about a life dilemma. Verbal response and facial expression were both recorded by a camera: verbal responses were then rated on both the Berlin Wisdom criteria and newly developed Chinese wisdom criteria; facial expressions were analyzed by the software iMotion FACET module. Results showed acceptable inter-rater and inter-item reliability for this novel paradigm. Moreover, both wisdom ratings were not significantly correlated with Social desirability, and the Berlin wisdom rating was significantly negatively correlated with Neuroticism; feeling of surprise was significantly positively correlated with both wisdom criteria ratings. Our results provide the first evidence of this Thin-slice Wisdom Paradigm’s reliability, its immunity to social desirability, and its validity for assessing candidates’ wisdom within a short timeframe. Although still awaiting further development, this novel Paradigm contributes to an emerging Universal Wisdom Paradigm applicable across cultures.

Wisdom in Context

Philosophers and psychological scientists have converged on the idea that wisdom involves certain aspects of thinking (e.g., intellectual humility, recognition of uncertainty and change), enabling application of knowledge to life challenges. Empirical evidence indicates that people’s ability to think wisely varies dramatically across experiential contexts that they encounter over the life span. Moreover, wise thinking varies from one situation to another, with self-focused contexts inhibiting wise thinking. Experiments can show ways to buffer thinking against bias in cases in which self-interests are unavoidable. Specifically, an ego-decentering cognitive mind-set enables wise thinking about personally meaningful issues. It appears that experiential, situational, and cultural factors are even more powerful in shaping wisdom than previously imagined. Focus on such contextual factors sheds new light on the processes underlying wise thought and its development, helps to integrate different approaches to studying wisdom, and has implications for measurement and development of wisdom-enhancing interventions.